Native teens lack the levers

In my years as a psychiatrist who started out working with teenagers, very few aboriginal youth made it to my consulting room. Many teenagers of Caucasian origin who committed misdemeanors and even crimes had parents who got them lawyers and ensured that they would never come close to having to do jail time. Native kids rarely have parents who can pull all the right levers on their behalf. There are community groups and elders, but this government has little interest in extending their influence.

It's hard for me to imagine substantial improvement to this dismal, two-tiered state of affairs as long as the gatekeepers to incarceration are male Republican wannabes like Stephen Harper, Vic Toews and Rob Nicholson.